[applause] morris manning, patrick rose all, dan 11, and i, walked into a metaphorical room all summer, emerged not only intact but breathlessly in sync. a lasting poetry the poetry that brought to our doorsteps and stopped us there, pushing all the other work away, we didn't disagree, but more than that we shared a passion and a sense of urgency about seeing that this work was brought forth and presented to the world. in other words, this was easy and obvious just like all the internal and external wrestling that went into it. i make it sound as if we didn't even need to talk about it, but oh, did we talk. oh, did we list. oh, did we worry. but we did in sympathy and with a shared vision. and although i like to think that my group of panelists was of course uniquely incredible, and that we were destined to do this together, i do believe in the end it was these five books we finally collapsed with and applauded and loved as a group that made it possible for us to emerge full of joint about this process. a finalist for the national book award in poetry this year r. david ferry, but wild